US military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan faced a difficult challenge. The soldiers and marines needed to combat a vicious, irregular force of insurgents. At the same time, utmost care had to be taken to avoid civilian casualties. Avoiding collateral damages was easier said than done. Senior US military leaders like Admiral Mike Mullen, General Stanley McChrystal, and General David Petraeus implemented a number of doctrinal changes to avoid civilian casualties. But changing the mindset and training of US soldiers was not an overnight task, especially when restraints on the use of force put US personnel at risk.
Read more
Patrick Paterson's monograph, Training Surrogate Forces in International Humanitarian Law: Lessons from Peru, Colombia, El Salvador, and Iraq, leverages the author’s vast experience in Latin American history to examine how US Special Operations Forces (USSOF) train surrogate forces. He argues that it is necessary to employ United States Special Operations Command's (USSOCOM) indirect approach to grow and build partnership capacity through foreign internal defense (FID) and to find a balance with international humanitarian law (IHL). Paterson also examines the legal issues and restrictions on training and equipping foreign forces and the impact of these exchanges with our partners. His research methodology includes extensive interviews and incorporates a historical case study approach, examining FID efforts in Peru, Colombia, and El Salvador for lessons learned, and then compares and contrasts USSOF train and equip efforts in Iraq.
Read more
Latin American governments have had to turn to their military forces to combat organized crime. The military, highly respected in most Latin American nations, has the discipline and the power of arms to counter these groups. However, the use of the military in police operations is a dangerous solution. Soldiers without adequate training or education could commit human rights violations and jeopardize the legitimacy of the military institution in the eyes of civil society. The US experience in Iraq demonstrates the risks of deploying armed forces that lack proper training. Used incorrectly, this force can be counterproductive and can jeopardize the most important strategic objective: the support of the population. Respect for human rights generates legitimacy that leads to collaboration and citizen support and intelligence opportunities for military forces.
Read more
For a special report on the Commission, the Perry Center Publications Editor-in-Chief Patrick Paterson met with Professor Richard Wilson, Director of the International Human Rights Law Clinic at the Washington College of Law, to discuss the most important cases or reports in the history of the Commission. Professor Wilson, a frequent lecturer at the Perry Center, is a longtime observer of the Commission and Court, where he and his students have presented more than 30 cases. Of the thousands of cases and reports of the Commission, Professor Wilson selected a few that he thought were especially important or influential.
Read more
